technology
iPhone coming to Videotron March 28
Videotron has had a "interest registration" page for a while promising to notify you when the iPhone eventually made its way to its Quebec only network. Now we see these tweets iPhone 5s is coming to Videotron on March 28 http://t.co/2KmYBPMDfW — Videotron (@Videotron) March 14, 2014 iPhone 5c is coming to Videotron on March 28 http://t.co/VGXWKEIgME — Videotron (@Videotron) March 14, 2014 We know Videotron bought 700MHZ spectrum outside of Quebec with the hopes of expanding its services accross Canada.
PhotoDirector 4 MAC/PC Free until March 16
Nothing feel better than getting something of value for free. Now CyberLink is running a special promo for CNET's Download.com by offering their well respected ($99) photo management app for free. Head over to this special promo page (link) and enter promo code PHD4CNET in the "redeem code" box. You get an immediate discount which brings the price to $0, nada, zilch.
Nomad ChargeKey extremely portable lightning cable review
<img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/8c1738e25f.jpg" alt=""> My smartphone has become so indispensable to me, I typically travel with a portable charger and an Apple lightning cable on me all the time. My smartphone is used for entertainment, news consumption, communication and navigation. Needless to say, the battery and cable take valuable pocket space. My poor lightning cables typically don't last too long... The designers over at Nomad recently released a product that really caught my attention, the ChargeKey. It is a short, flexible, key-chain attachable lightning cable.
Roam Mobility now sold at 265 Futureshop and BestBuy locations
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1800”]Image by cogdogblog Under Creative Commons License [/caption] As a casual traveller to the US, I am always looking for ways to stay connected affordably and Roam Mobility has been my consistent go to provider. They offer a mix of plans to suit everyone and the pricing is extremely competitive. The only complaint I would hear was around buying one of their special roaming sim cards. Now you can pickup their products at any one of the 265 Futureshop or Bestbuy locations across Canada ( Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland).
Demo of Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Siri
We have known that Microsoft's answer to Siri was in the works and code-named Cortana but for the first time, we get a video demo leak. Cortana will be included in Windows Phone 8.1 Since Cortana requires a Microsoft account, it is almost certain that the heavy lifting is being done in the cloud and that it will use its cloud storage infrastructure to move your profile (searches, customizations, etc) between devices. There will be a customization process to ensure Cortana give you the best possible response (as an example what type of restaurants you prefer).
Blackberry 10 receives Microsoft OneDrive client
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Microsoft rebranding its SkyDrive cloud storage service to Microsoft OneDrive (link). BkBlackberry has done a great job integrating cloud storage providers into its base os on BB10 devices. Out of the gate, BB10 supports Dropbox and Box. Now you can add Microsoft OneDrive support to that list with the availability of the Connect to Microsoft OneDrive app (link). The functionality of this new add on is exactly the same as that of Dropbox and Box.
Buy a Samsung Galaxy S5 and get $500 of gifts
Maybe the shiny new Samsung Galaxy S5 and its boatload of features wasn't enough to entice you to fork over your hard earned money. Samsung has sweetened the pot with $500 (link) of extra premium services and apps. Of the apps listed, the ones I think are the most interesting: 1 year of premium RunKeeper 6 months of premium MapMyFitness 6 months of Wall Street Journal 1 year of the Bloomberg BusinessWeek 3 months of premium LinkedIn 3 months of premium Bitcasa cloud storage 3 months of premium Evernote and more I would have loved 1 year or Evernote and Bitcasa but this still isn't too shabby
Apple reveals TouchID secrets in new document
In a new document published by Apple (link), we finally learn the details about bout TouchID functions and the exact process of the TouchID finger recognition system. Since the release of the iPhone 5s, we have seen a steady stream of information explaining TouchID and its security level. We know the scanned information is stored in a non-reversible fashion on a special "enclave" built into Apple's latest A7 chip. We know from experience that even the cable is authenticated with its paired TouchID sensor to prevent man-in-the-middle type attacks.
New MotoX Coming this Summer
Q from twitter: When is next version of Moto X? A: Keep posted - hint - late summer. #MotoMWC — Motorola Mobility (@Motorola) February 25, 2014 Since Motorola Mobility is now a Lenovo company, many asked if Motorola would be updating its aging MotoX and during a Twitter Q&A, we learned that the answer is yes. Expect the updated version sometime late summer. Thats all we know but expect rumours to drop out of China as the release gets closer.
The Goophone Samsung Galaxy S5 knockoff available
The creative and hardworking team at Goophone have managed to clone the Samsung Galaxy S5 in about 2 days. What did Goophone name this clone/copy/tip-off/fake? They called it the Goophone S5. It comes with a 5" 1920x1080 screen 2GHz octa-core MediaTek processor GSM, WCDMA (HSUPA, HSDPA) 2GB RAM 2800mAh battery 13 megapixel read camera 5 megapixel front camera Available in white, black, gold and blue Dual-SIM card slots Android 4.2 (with Google Play) All of this for only $299.
Whatsapp to add voice Services
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“531”]Image by abulhussain under Creative Commons License [/caption] Read up about Telegram Messenger, a solid Whatsapp alternative (link) Whatsapp was swallowed by Facebook in exchange for a cool $19B. To keep it exciting and in the news, the CEO, Jan Koum, announced that they will be bringing voice services to market. Sure you can send voice notes today but they want to bring actual voice calling functionality to their users. Is this something that excites you? Do you really need another VOIP client?
Telegram Messenger is a nice Whatsapp alternative
Now that Whatsapp was bought by Facebook for $19B, many users are searching for a new instant messaging platform to use. Enter Telegram Messenger (link). Telegram Messenger is the brainchild of russian technology magnate Pavel Durov. Pavel is rich enough that he can pretty much do whatever he wants and said he wanted to build an easy to use, secure and free instant messaging platform that he could share with the world. After all of the Edward Snowden NSA revelations, tech users have been searching for a more secure non-US based IM system and Pavel believes his Telegram Messenger is the perfect answer.
Government makes 5.27B$ from wireless auction
Now that the Canadian wireless auction for the 700 MHZ band is over, we can list the winners and losers. The first big winner is the Canadian government making a cool 5.27B$. The biggest surprise was Videotron by winning licenses in Ontario, Alberta and BC. Which clearly means they have expansion plans like I wrote about here (link). The biggest spender was Rogers with 3.3B$ next was Telus spending 1.1B$. Rogers spent more than Telus and Bell combined because it bought the largest number of paired blocks.
BBM Coming to windows Phone
Wahoo! BBM coming to #Lumia! #NokiaMWC — Nokia (@nokia) February 24, 2014 Stephen Elop just announced (at the Mobile World Mobile Conference in Barcelona) that Blackberries popular cross-platform mobile messenger app is coming to Windows phone "in the coming months". BBM them sent a press release clarifying that BBM for Windows Phone will be available this summer. Additionally we learned that BBM will also be available for the new Nokia X Android phone also. The press release also confirms that all BBM 2 features will be available at launch (BBM channels, voice, video, etc).
Google wants Android to map the world in 3D
Google took the covers off of a 5" smartphone prototype called Tango. This very special device is equipped with specialized sensors that allow it to "see" the world in 3D (taking 250,000 measurements a second). since the device is a smartphone phone factor (unlike the Microsoft Kinect) they have paid particular attention to designing the system to be low power consumption. Like most bleeding edge Google projects, this started with 2 questions: Can it be done? What can the world develop for it once its available?
Two-step verification for Apple IDs finally lands in Canada
Early last year, many countries were able to use Apple's two-step verification feature for their Apple IDs. It seems today, without much fanfare, Apple released this feature for a bunch of new countries Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, & Spain. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/ff31035e56.jpg" alt=""> Go to my apple id (link) <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/0ea1a8ac3e.jpg" alt=""> You can enable this new feature (and you really should) by following these steps: 1 - Select “Manage your Apple ID” and sign in.
Eat your hashtags
Everyone is trying to capitalize on the success of Facebook and Twitter but this is the first time I see a food company trying to do it. BirdsEye is create a new product called Mashtags (Mas#tags). tIt is a potato based snack that will provide your government recommended daily intake of #, @, <3 and other familiar social media shortcuts. UK residents will be able to chow down on these gr8t treats in March for £1.75 a bag. Via : PocketLint
iCup for the ultimate iFan in your life
Apple has regular users that just find the platform more convenient then they have super fans. These are people that eat Apple, think Apple and dream Apple. They are the ultimate fanboys. One such fanboy is designer Tomislav Zvonaric who created the work of art you see above. It is his homage to Apple. In true Apple fashion, he has spent considerable time working out even the smallest of details (look at the spoon or the leaf handle). The saucer isn't just a regular plate.
Telus updates its Travel Pass for Cuba
Canadians love to flock south during the winter to thaw out and get some colour. One of our favourite destinations is Cuba because its close and cheap. Now Telus has updated its Travel Pass for Cuba (offering more for less). I am typically the first person to say "Unlock your phone and buy a pre-paid SIM when you land" but that simply isn't practical for Cuba so this is a nice option. $40 Plan - Get's you 50 minutes of talk, 50 text messages and 50MB of data.
Media reports SEA stole 1M Forbes accounts
The Syrian Electronic Army has now [reportedly] stollen 1 million user credentials from Forbes.com. Re/code (link) saw multiple tweets where the SEA took responsibility and published various screenshots as proof. Forbes has confirmed the compromise, they are recommending users change their password and they are implementing additional phishing controls (which is likely how they were compromised in the first place). #Forbes users table(1,071,963 user-email-password) was dumped successfully, Anyone want to buy it? pic.twitter.com/QniuVosvcM — SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) February 14, 2014 <img src="https://ekiledjian2.